# The website did not publish

Work through the usual reasons a publish did not happen, or did not include what you expected.

For: Everyone publishing a website

## Most often: no bought licence

The commonest "it did not publish" is a website without a bought licence: a trial website, a website whose licence was moved or taken off, or one whose licence has ended. The Publish dialog then says Choose a plan for this website, and Choose a plan opens the Licences page with that website picked out, ready to assign a spare licence or buy one.

In a trial this is by design: the trial builds and previews everything but does not publish. A bought licence for the website opens publishing for good.

Walkthrough: The commonest cause: no bought licence (The Licences page, then Buying licences)

1. **Find the website**: Every website with a licence is listed beside it. A website missing from the list has none.
2. **Use a spare one**: Assign to a website puts a spare licence on it, and it can publish straight away.
3. **Or buy one**: Buy a licence for the website, then publish: everything waiting goes live, or only what you tick.

1. Open Licences and find the website.
2. Assign a spare licence to it, or buy one for it.
3. Publish again: everything waiting goes live, or only what you tick.

## A page I did not tick is still unpublished

The Publish dialog lists every page added, changed or removed, the design and site settings, and the product changes, all ticked to start with. Anything you untick stays in the draft: the live website keeps its old version of that page, or does not have the page at all if it is new. That is the point of choosing, not a fault.

To put it live, publish again and leave it ticked, or press Publish everything. Until then it is listed under Waiting to publish on the website's overview, and the websites list shows how many changes are waiting.

Walkthrough: What the Publish dialog left in the draft (Publishing a website)

1. **Unticked stays in the draft**: The live website keeps its old version of that page until you publish it.
2. **Publish everything**: Puts every waiting change live in one go, ticked or not.

Note: On the first publish the home page always goes live, so its tick cannot be taken off.

## A product change is not live

Products, categories and attributes are published apart from the pages. If you published only pages, or unticked Products in the Publish dialog, the product changes are still waiting. Publish products, in the products area, lists what will change and puts it live on its own, without touching any page. The Publish products guide in the shop section goes through it step by step.

Prices, stock and offers are different: they are live as soon as they are saved, with no publishing at all. If a price looks wrong on the live website, check the product itself rather than the publish.

Walkthrough: Product changes, published apart (Publishing a website)

1. **Products are their own group**: Untick them and the pages go live without them; the product changes keep waiting.
2. **Or on their own**: Publish products in the products area puts them live without touching any page.

Note: Publish products appears once the website has been published. Before that, the first publish takes the products with everything else.

## It published, but the change is not there

Check the badges before anything else: Live, changes waiting on the website card, or a count of changes waiting, means something is still in the draft. Open the website's overview, where Waiting to publish lists it, publish it, then reload the live page properly rather than an old tab.

For a change that does not appear even after publishing, check the other addresses: with both a cubesites.site address and a custom domain, one may be the main address and the other a redirect. The change is at both.

Walkthrough: It published, but the change is not there (The Websites page)

1. **Changes waiting**: The badge says the edit exists but has not been published.
2. **How many**: The card counts what is waiting. The website's overview lists each one under Waiting to publish.

Note: A published blog post with a future date waits for its time by design. The list shows Scheduled, not missing.

## Offline, password and staging

A site that shows a holding page has been taken offline on purpose: website Settings has the switch, and it is one click to return. A site asking for a password is protected rather than broken: the password is in website Settings, and search engines are told to stay away until it is switched off.

If a site looks right on staging but not live, the two are different versions by definition. Send to staging or promote the same version, then compare like with like.

Walkthrough: Offline, password and staging states (Website settings)

1. **A holding page is not broken**: It means the site was taken offline on purpose. One click returns it.
2. **And nothing was deleted**: Nothing is lost while offline: the site returns as it was at the next publish.

- [ ] A bought licence on the website
- [ ] Everything wanted ticked in the Publish dialog
- [ ] Products published if they changed
- [ ] Not deliberately offline or password-held
- [ ] The right address being compared

## What if Publish itself shows an error?

Send support the error text and the time; publishing logs enough to find the cause. Nothing partial goes live when a publish fails, so the site is safe meanwhile.

## Why does Publish ask for a plan when I have bought licences?

The licence may be spare or on another website. Open Licences: this website should be listed beside an Active licence. If it is not, assign one to it.

## Related guides

- [Publish and unpublish](/help/publishing-and-domains/publish-and-unpublish)
- [Publish products](/help/shop/publish-products)
- [Buy and manage licences](/help/plans-and-billing/buy-and-manage-licences)
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